Boy, really turns your stomach, doesn't it? To me that is CPS "101"--child w/ STD...duh...how does one get an STD? Remove child from home. What is the problem? Another child ...gone. Makes you wonder just how many kids you see out and about...at the library, stores, malls, etc...that are victims of abuse/neglect. I think of this sometimes. So very upsetting. :mad:

You make a really good point, you just have to wonder about all the kids we see at the stores.malls/libraries you mentioned, how many are abused?

Cherylz, the thing is, the children love the abuser, many times a single parent, its all they know. In the case of EMMA, it is just unbelievable to me to know her mother was a nurse & basically sacrificed EMMA's life to a pediphile/molester. When CPS finally arrived, they were familiar with him, he has molested 3 other kids of another girlfriend.

There is a pattern here, locate a lonely single woman, befriend her because she has little children, then the sexual abuse starts. Just makes me sick!

Marica emailed me and asked me to post that link. She just had foot surgery and said she was in a fog. I give her a lot of credit for keeping up with this case since she isn't feeling well.

CPS needs an entire re-vaming. Not just in Texas but in every state. I think it is up to our Health and Human Services Director to start these changes. There is no excuse for what this poor baby endured!!

_________________Prayers for our little HaLeigh Cummings, wherever she may be!!

The statement that STD is NOT enough reason to remove a child from the home makes me so mad I could just slap the person who said that. HOW STUPID can CPS be? Mommy being an RN and doing NOTHING but LIE just burns my biscuits to charcoal

The jury that convicted Lucas Coe of super aggravated sexual assault has reached a verdict in his punishment.

The jury returned a verdict around 12:30pm Thursday that Lucas Coe should spend his life behind bars for raping four-year-old Emma Thompson.

Evidence showed Emma had blunt force trauma to the abdomen, a skull fracture, head lacerations, about 80 bruises, and bleeding from a torn genitalia after the attack on June 27, 2009. She was later taken to a hospital, where she died.

“Life’s not even really enough for what he’s done,” prosecutor Colleen Barnett said in court. “Sometimes the smallest voices are actually the loudest. And you know that she’s talking to you.”

Closing arguments this morning for both sides were short, taking less than an hour.

“I respect the decision that you made in this case. I don’t agree with the decision that you made in this case. I respect whatever decision you make in punishment in this case,” said Coe’s attorney, William Van Buren.

In the punishment phase of Coe’s trial, jurors heard testimony about other assaults and brutality by Coe. A 10-year-old boy said he was hospitalized for several days after a beating by the defendant.

Prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence and that is what the jury handed down after deliberating for less than three hours. Coe had faced a sentence of 25 to 99 years behind bars. There is no possibility of parole for him. He was also fined $10,000.

Coe, 28, had no reaction to the sentence in the courtroom.

After Thursday’s punishment was read, Ben Thompson, the biological father of Emma, told us that Coe is not a man and his life is worth nothing. Thompson added that he will never forget writing a letter to his daughter after her death that he failed her.

“I don’t think he’s going to have a very comfortable life where he’s going to. I think that I’m gonna think of him as dead until someone in prison makes him that way and then I’m not going to think about him anymore,” Ben Thompson said.

The jury of eight men and five women took less than three hours to sentence Coe to life in prison with no possibility of parole. They convicted him Tuesday of super aggravated sexual assault for the mortal injuries he inflicted on the 4-year-old old girl last year.

After the sentencing, her family was able to tell Coe how their lives have changed.

“We will not forget what evil was done to Emma Thompson. And we know who did it,” said Emma’s grandfather, Jim Thompson.

Emma’s grandmother, Laurie, spoke directly to the defense, admonishing them for their depiction of Emma as clumsy and sickly, and asking them not to forget her.

“I wanted everyone to share in some way in the future, in some small way to have a reminder of Emma and how her life mattered,” Laurie Thompson said.

“I can’t fault the grand jury. What that family has gone through has been horrendous. Had the roles been reversed, had I been in dad’s shoes, I don’t know if we’d be in the courthouse,” said Coe’s attorney William Van Buren.

Emma’s aunt said she hopes Coe is haunted by the vision of Emma’s face.

The toddler’s mother, Abigail Young, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 12 for failing to protect her daughter from Coe.